The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-06-22

naent 10 a fever heat; and a monster mass
meeting was called for April 10, 1913, on
keIlslngton common- hundred thousand
laborers were 70 assemble and march.with a
petition TO the house Of commons. The gov
eminent forbade the meeting; but all London
was IN panic. The Duke OF Wellington
posted soldiers 70 protect the public buildings.
and many thousand special constabies and
policemen were sworn in. Among those
who volunteered as policemen was Prince
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, then an exile in
England and soon after TO be emperor Of the
French AT the LAST minute the Chartists
yielded, and thereafter their power seemed
20 vanish all at once. The best Of the meas
ures they asked for have since become laws in
England.
The Chartist riots, the agitation for the ne
peal OF the corn laws and the general move
ment 70 improve the condition Of laborers
appear % have unsettled many minds; and,
as generally happens in such cases, a spirit OF
assassination was excited June 10, 1910.
Edward Oxfoni. a boy of II. fired twice at
the queen as she was out driving with her
husband; the jury pronounced him insane
and ne ended his life in an asylum Another
attempt on the queens life was made Nav
50, 1S42. This was by John Francis, a Young
machinest, and on the very spot where OK
ford's attempt was made. He fired two shots
at but few feet distant; bat it was set up
on his trial that the pistol was loaded only
with wads. He was found guilty Of high
treason and sentenced TO death, but the Queen
committed it 10 Imprisonment for life: and on
the very day after the Communication was rub
hshed a hunchback named Bean aimed a
pistol at her majesty, but was seized aud dis
armed by boy standing near. The pistol
was loaded only with paper and fragments of
a clay pipe; 80 Bean escaped with the very
triaing penalty of eighteen months imprison-
ment. On May 10, 1S49, an Irish bricklayer
discharged pistol, loaded only with powder,
at the queen, for which he was transported
for seven years On May p. 1850 Robert
Pate, who had been discharged from the po-
sition of lieutenant in the HusSars struck the
queen across the face with cane as she was
entering her carriage; he also received
sentence TO seven years transportation And
finally, on Feb. %, 1872, a l7-year-oid boy,
Arthur OConnor. aimed pistol at the
queen; but il proved 10 be unloaded and to
have defective lock. He received twelve
months Imprisonment and public whip
ping; and there were no more attempts at as
sasSination or intimidation
BY the factories act of 1914 children of ten
der years were excluded from the mills, and
the hours of such as were admitted limited TO
| seven or ten per day, according to age. BY
| another act it was absolutely forbidden to
| employ women or girls in the mines and col
| heries. Following this came the long and
| heated agitation for free Importation of food.
| BY the corn laws of 1915 all foreign grain was
| fairfield at rate which practically forbade
| its Importation, except when scarcity raised
the home price almost 10 the famine line
| The Irish famine compelled parliament to
/ take action, and though Sir Robert Peel had
taken the post Of prime minister as a Con
| sentative, he went over to the Radicals on
| this point, and in June, 1876, the corn laws
| We're absolutely repealed This was followed
| rapidly by removal of taxes from Other. arti-
| cles of food, and consequently by vast in
| crease in import and consumption, and since
| 1850 Great Britain has been pointed at as the
| one great free trade nation in the world.
The Irish famine which forced the action
| of Peel and his colleagues began in the
! autumn Of 1Si5 with a peculiar blight upon
| the potatO-the standard food of the poor.
! In 1916 not only did the plant wither under
| the blight, but the potatoes routed even in the
| cellars and pits after being dug, when APP
| parently sound; and the long reign of misery